Source: August 2014 ACBL Bridge Bulletin      

This auction is relatively standard. South opens 1 and North responds 1. South’s 2 is a normal reverse, which shows a strong hand with clubs and diamonds. North’s 2 is Alerted as the weakest bid he can make with fewer than five hearts. His hand might look like this:  AJ 5 4  K 9 4 3 J 3 2  J 9 3.

In the example auction, North has no other bid besides 2. He could rebid hearts if he had five of them. 2NT would show a spade stopper. And North-South are using a return to 3 as showing 8 decent points with real club support.

South’s 3NT bid says he wants to be in game even if North has a minimum. One thing you can count on is that South has a stopper in spades – he won’t bid 3NT without it.

Here is your hand. What do you lead?  K 9 6 4  Q 9 5 J 5  J 10 6 3.

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Think about what North and South have shown. South’s bidding indicates a big hand with clubs, diamonds and something in spades. North should have a weak hand with four hearts and enough strength that he felt like responding to 1. You have an interesting inference here. What is South’s distribution? Usually he will have five clubs and four diamonds. He says he has spades stopped and if he has three in the suit, then he has just one heart. If South were 2-2-4-5, he may have opened 2NT or rebid 2NT instead of reversing. So 3-1-4-5 is a more likely distribution. Their weak spot is probably hearts. I suggest leading the Q.

The idea is that if South has just one heart and North doesn’t have really good hearts, you may be able to lead through dummy to good advantage. Here is the actual layout. I do not promise that this is the layout you will find every time you try a lead like this one, but it is a well thought-out idea.

If West leads the Q, the defense has a chance to set the contract. South can make 3NT but he has some work to do, including not playing the A too early. Fiddle with it if you wish – it is intriguing.

This kind of auction is important. When you know declarer is strong and likely has shortness in a suit, leading an unsupported honor in that suit can be a great choice. But it is not always the right play – if dummy has shown a good holding in the suit, it may not be wise to toss out a king, queen or jack.

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